come off

verb

1. (also preposition) to fall (from), losing one's balance

2. to become detached or be capable of being detached

3. (preposition) to be removed from (a price, tax, etc)

   will anything come off income tax in the budget?

4. (copula) to emerge from or as if from a trial or contest

   he came off the winner

5. informal,  to take place or happen

6. informal,  to have the intended effect; succeed

   his jokes did not come off

7. slang,  to have an orgasm

8. informal,  stop trying to fool me!

Idioms and Phrases

Happen, occur, as in The trip came off on schedule . [Early 1800s]

Acquit oneself, reach the end. This usage always includes a modifier, as in Whenever challenged he comes off badly , or This model is doomed to come off second-best . [Mid-1600s]

Succeed, as in Our dinner party really came off . [Mid-1800s]

See come off it .

Example Sentences

“You see the ball come off the bat, you think it’s the third out, and you see him boot it and throw the ball away,” Edman said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The game comes off the back of the futuristic Battlefield 2042, released four years ago to a negative reception it struggled to recover from.

Read more on BBC

Since the U.S. came off the gold standard in 1974, gold has proven a better investment than mainstream U.S.

Read more on MarketWatch

Some 100,000 federal workers came off the government’s payroll this week, the latest bit of unwelcome news for the softening U.S. labor market.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“All the status symbols come off in the locker room, and they stay in the locker,” he says.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• go off 
• go over 
• pan out